Research in Clinical Assessment
Proposal deadline – Feb. 1, 2012
The purpose and priorities of the 2012 competition are the encouragement of innovations in the assessment of clinical competence or performance of students, postgraduate trainees or practitioners. Therefore, the adjudication committee will give priority to proposals that show promise in contributing to the knowledge and understanding of measurement in clinical assessment and to clinical program evaluation methods for medical education. The proposal must focus on research, not development, in the assessment of performance or clinical assessment. Of special interest will be proposals that focus on the following themes:
- Test content analysis and blueprinting
- Test development and scoring
- Standard setting
- Test fairness
- Longitudinal evaluation of test scores
Other topics will be considered but preference may be given to topics in these areas. The award is also intended to address two target groups: junior or other investigators starting out in the assessment field and students who are undertaking graduate education in assessment of clinical competence or performance and who are seeking support for their research, which is part of their thesis requirements or postdoctoral program. Senior investigators are also encouraged to apply; however, preference may be given to junior investigators in order to foster the development of new researchers.
Eligibility: The principal investigator (PI) must hold an appointment at a Canadian medical school or health science faculty, or in a research institute at a teaching hospital or similar non-profit medical organization.
Maximum grant: The total limit per application is C$37,500, which can be spread over 12 months of support. However, applicants with innovative proposals requiring smaller, short-term amounts (e.g., master’s projects) are encouraged to apply. Funding will be available as of July 1, 2012. Please note that the Medical Council of Canada (MCC) reserves the right to withhold 25 per cent of the awarded monies until a final report has been submitted and accepted by the MCC. Applicants who have received an MCC grant but have failed to submit a satisfactory final report by the specified deadline are not eligible to apply for another MCC grant, at minimum, until they have submitted the report.
Proposal preparation: To keep overhead to a minimum, specific MCC application forms will not be used. Applications must be submitted by email in PDF format and not exceed nine pages in length. Proposals should be formatted under the following headings:
- Title and names of principal and co-investigator(s)
- Abstract (300 word maximum)
- Problem statement (research questions and rationale)
- Review of literature
- Research design and methods (experimental design, subjects, material, data collection procedures, data analysis)
- Project schedule and personnel
- Budget and defence of budget*
- References
Applications must be accompanied by a brief, separate two to three page summary of the PI’s or investigators’ education, research training, academic positions held and publications over the past five years.
In order to be considered for funding, each proposal must contain the following:
- All applications must be accompanied by a statement indicating that approval is in progress from the ethics committees at all involved institutions.
- All applications must be sponsored in writing by the departmental or program chair and must include a statement that the research protocol is being supported, based on a peer-reviewed, in-house assessment or an equivalent institutional review committee prior to submission.
Applications should be sent to: |
Chair, MCC Research and Development Committee c/o Ms. Lauren Copp 2283 St. Laurent Boulevard, Suite 100 Ottawa, ON K1G 5A2 grants@mcc.ca |
*Please note: the MCC will not fund salaries for principal investigators nor indirect administrative surcharges after the fact. All indirect costs arising out of the study, including university administrative surcharges or levies, must be submitted in the application’s budget as identifiable direct cost line items.
